


The Witch Phoenix

by opulent_marie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Historical, Witch Hunt, colonial
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23448058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opulent_marie/pseuds/opulent_marie
Summary: Late 17th century in a period of mass hysteria, Colonial America learns what it means to be a nation both good and bad.“Have you noticed something strange about Alfred?”
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	The Witch Phoenix

June 15, 1672  
Virginia

“There’s something strange about Alfred,” said the woman with an aging and bland cap. She glanced at her slightly younger counterpart as they weaved through the crowds. The tone she spoke in wasn’t malicious but rather a state of fact. The two looked to be in their mid-teenage years and appeared to be drowning in their plain muddy cloaks with their white head covers contrasting the dark cloaks. Like most of the townspeople, it was common knowledge that it was best to travel with a companion. It was, after all, relatively unknown land and there were plenty of dangers lurking in the shadows. It didn’t matter that the townspeople were there for a while, from experience they learned to stick together.

“That boy who lives on the hill?” The slightly shorter brunette said breathlessly as she dodged a child. She was familiar with who Alfred was, everyone was, the mysterious child with a countenance of angels, who helped anyone insight and a captivating smile. But for conversation's sake, she decided to indulge her friend.

They all felt the deep pull shrouded with familiarity towards the young child. They couldn’t help but feel protective of the child even though he showed up in the previous spring. With no housing, the people took it upon themselves to provide until the one he currently home was complete. Her mother often made her take extra provisions to his house up the hill, taking pity on the poor boy who seemed to be alone in the empty house.

“Yes, don’t you think so? He talks to everyone even the heathens who've never stepped foot in a church. You see, Alfred is a good boy, he appears at strange times to help others it's like he can sense when people are in need and leaves shortly after. Just last week my uncle was carrying in goods for his store and the blessed child made himself known to help him. The box he was carrying was bigger than he was!”

“I admit there is something strange about him, but can’t we focus on the task at hand ?” The brunette huffed with annoyance as she hurried past her companion.  
They made their way along the dirt road and noticed an older man making a lot of noise. He was the village's holy man, and in his grasp was the forearm of a teenager. Her hair was cut short, some parts were balding and bleeding giving signs of rough treatment. She was in her shift, covered in mud and was tatters coming up to her knees. With an iron-clad grip, the holy man lifted her up and turned her to expose her bare back covered with deep red lashes coming from every direction.

“This girl has been accused of being a whore and giving her soul to Satan, she shall be hanged in the gallows!”

The girl looked at the two traveling companions with eyes on the brisk of tears, but with defiance in her eyes. She bit her lower lip to prevent her from crying out to them. Filled with disgust the brunette made her way towards the teenager and spat at her feet.

“You shall hang in the gallows for your crimes against God.” She turned sharply and made her leave. In fear of judgment, the blonde of the pair gave a look of sympathy and rushed after her associate.  
“Let this be an example for you if you are in league with Satan you shall meet this girl's same fate!” The holy man voiced, trailing after them.

***

Putting on his cloak, Alfred followed his caregiver Abigail and stepped out into the cold brisk morning, pretending to blow smokes of tobacco he looked at her.

The servant clucked her tongue in disapproval, “ you are far too young be doing that”

“I may look younger than you, but I am actually older than you”, he said with a far too serious look for his chubby face. She rolled her eyes while ruffling his hair, “That may be so, but you are still lacking in height and maturity”

“That may be so,” He said mimicking her, “but I bet I can beat you to the market!” He said the last part in a rush as he shot off. As he ran his way down the hill and into the village, his lungs started to burn and his legs started to tremble. A smile grew on his face as he focused on his surroundings. Trusting his instinct, Alfred decided to take a shortcut, stepping off the path and through the forest, jumping over every nook and dodging every branch with ease. Although he doesn’t know this part of the woods, he felt it in his bones. He knows every turn, every tree, and most importantly where to find the biggest bugs

_“Alfred stop running!” Arthur tried to say with a serious face but failed as his corner of lips turned upward. Upon hearing his voice, Alfred halted in place, his back faced towards Arthur. Feeling concerned well up inside his chest, he felt suspicion that Alfred was about to cause havoc. A sense that developed over time from Alfred's antics, if it wasn’t for his immortal status Arthur would have had grey hair a long time ago. Turning around, Alfred gave a wide smile at Arthur with a mischievous glint in his eye and moved his mouth to speak._

_Big Brother I have a surprise for you.”_ _Making his way towards Arthur, the young boy covered his hands to hide something._

_“Well, what is it, my boy?” Arthur said against his better judgment. With a widened grin, Alfred opened his hands, a small insect that had beady eyes looked at Arthur. With precision, it leaped out of Alfred’s hands and landed on Arthur's chest. With a shrill that France would have a trip with, Arthur jumped and patted everywhere on his body to get rid of the devil’s creature._

Giggling to himself, Alfred was drawn back to his surroundings. He stepped into a clearing and walked onto the path, leading from the woods to the village, and looked around for Abigail, who was nowhere in sight. He made his way towards the village and through the marketplace. He felt a surge of pride and excitement rush throughout his body. The people, his people going about their business bartering with each other and selling objects of every kind. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell where he started and where Arthur began, some days he felt out of place like he wasn’t quite himself, but in moments like these, surrounded by his people, he felt the most complete. . . like his own nation.  
Lost in his thoughts he didn’t notice until a second too late when Abigail snuck behind him and grabbed his hand, she ignored his whines as she led him away towards where they actually had business.

Alfred chattered mindlessly to Abigail while looking around. “Then, Arthur said I wasn’t ready for hunting lessons but I think I am! I think he’s just worried but I can take down a coyote no problem. I’m pretty brave.”

“Mhmm,” Abigail hummed, as she squinted at the apples on sale.

“Don’t you think I’m brave Abigail?”

“Mhmm.”

“See now you just gotta tell Arthur that,” Alfred said, sticking his tongue and scrunching his nose. Arthur doesn’t see how brave and strong he is, but maybe if Abigail told him then he could finally get those lessons. The other boys are getting hunting lessons already so why can’t he? When they got to the next booth, all thought of hunting went out of his mind as he saw a row of steaming sweet rolls lined up sweetly across the table. Alfred gasped, and stood on his toes to get a better look, “Can we get some?” He asked, tugging on her hand.

She frowned at him ready to say no but softened as he gave her his infamous puppy eyes. She sighed and turned to the seller,” How much?”  
The seller, a woman in her late thirties, smiled indulgently, “5 pence a dozen, but,” She winked at Alfred, “I can make it a baker’s dozen for no extra charge.”  
Alfred gasped, pulling on Abigail’s hand, “Say yes! Say yes!”

Abigail laughed and pulled out her purse, “That’s very kind of you. You’re going to make me spoil the boy.”

The seller laughed as she wrapped up the pastries for them, “He’s so cute it’s hard not to,” Then she leaned in, her tone turning serious, “Did you hear about the baker's daughter?”

Abigail shook her head, “No, I’ve been up at the house since church.”

The seller looked around and said quietly, “It’s a terrible shame is what it is, I always thought they were a nice family, but the devil can take anyone.”

“What’s taking everyone?” Alfred said loudly, looking between the two curiously.

They looked at each other for a moment before Abigail leaned down to Alfred’s height, “Alfred why don’t you go play with some of the other boys while I finish up these errands? If you’re good I’ll let you have one of the pastries tonight.”

Curiosity forgotten at the prospect of being able to play and have a treat Alfred quickly agreed, “Okay!”, and he skipped off to meet up with the boys who were playing sword fight with sticks at the other end of the street.

There were five boys playing, four of them were engaged in very serious combat with sticks while the fifth was sitting down, watching them fight with a bored expression. When he looked up and saw Alfred his expression changed and he gave Alfred a big toothy grin as he waved.

“Hi, Alfred!” He said standing up. “Boy, I’m sure glad you showed up, now I have a partner to spar with!”

“Hi Johnny,” Alfred said, hands in his pockets, “I can’t stay long, Abby’s getting our provisions for the week she said I can play until she’s done.  
“‘Sat’s ok,” Johnny grinned, picking up two sticks, “We can just go until we’re done.”

Alfred caught the stick Johnny threw at him, feeling a little unsure. Abigail and Arthur warned him repeatedly not to play too rough because someone could really get hurt. “Do we have to swordfight?”That caught the other boys’ attention.

“What’s wrong Alfie?” One of the boys, George, said, leaning in close, he was taller than the others and he liked to show it off, “Scared he’ll whip ya?”  
The other boys laughed, and Alfred felt his face grow hot.

“No!” Alfred said quickly, “I’m not scared.” He isn’t scared of anything! George likes to talk a big game but he knows if they actually got into a fight he’d win no problem.  
Benjamin stepped in between, he was a little older than the rest of the boys (except Alfred of course) so he liked to boss them around. “I’m getting tired of playing swords anyway, I was going to save this for later but check this out,” He dug something from his pocket and they all huddled in close to look at it. It was a small round metal, with a pin on it, it glinted in the sunlight, there was a rock in the center with a pretty purplish hue. They all pushed at each other to get a good look at it.

“What is it?” Johnny said in a reverent tone. Alfred had seen jewelry before, simple bronze wedding bands and necklaces, but nothing like this.

“It’s called a brooch.” Ben said, clearly pleased to have all of their attention, “Apparently it’s been in my mama’s family for generations, I nicked it this morning to show you guys.”

“Say Ben let me hold it for a while,” George said, eyes not moving from the object in Ben’s hand.

Ben pulled it away, “No way! You’ll damage it.”

“No, I won’t.”

"Yes, you will!”

“No, I won’t!”

“Yes, you will I saw what you did with Cassie’s doll last week!”

George growled with frustration and lunged for it. The two boys tussled on the ground both grabbing for the brooch while the other boys watched. To everyone’s horror, George swiped at the brooch and it flew out of Ben’s hand and out onto the busy street. They all watched in horror as it rolled down the street until it landed underneath a parked cart. They all ran to the cart, “Look what you did!” shouted Ben.

Heads turned towards each other with wide eyes. Ben squatted down and tried to grab at it, his arm stretching as far as it could go but the gap between the ground and the bottom of the cart was too narrow for him to fit. “I can’t reach it, George you try.”

To everyone’s dismay, he couldn’t reach it either, each boy took turns reaching underneath and all failed. Alfred nibbled on his bottom lip nervously watching as each boy tried and failed to grab at it.

“Harrison’s coming back!” They all looked over to where the owner of the cart was doing his business, he had just shaken hands with the other man and was carrying a sack on his back as he began to leave the store.

To their surprise, Ben the oldest started to cry, “If mama finds out I took it and it breaks she’ll never forgive me.” Stirred, Alfred walked towards the cart, grabbing the bottom with both hands and lifted.

“Hurry, grab it!” No one reached for it.

Lifting with one hand Alfred made his way towards the brooch but was yanked back abruptly. Looking over his shoulder, he was surprised to find Abby clenching his arm with a look of absolute fury. Alfred was going to say something but was stopped by the look on her face. The cart fell down with a harsh thud, Alfred was dragged back towards Abigail.

***

His heart raced, he didn’t understand what was happening, but somehow he knew it was something he did. Was it when he lifted the cart? Did she think he was stealing the brooch?

“Abby-” He began, trying to explain that he would never steal. But the words were cut short as he felt her grip tighten around her arm. She gave him a furious look and his mouth clamped shut, choking on any words he would’ve said to his defense. The walk back was silent. As soon as they reached the manor and she shut the door and let go of his arm.

“What are you doing Abby?”

Her brows were scrunched forward, eyes filled with fury shifted to fear. “Do you realize what you did?” She said in a cold voice.

“I was just helping out my friend,” Alfred said, “But Abby I wasn’t going to steal the brooch I was going to give it straight to him I swear!” He added quickly.

She looked confused before shaking her head, “Alfred that’s not the problem, do you see other little boys lifting carts single-handedly?”

Was that a trick question? Alfred shook his head, feeling dread curl up in his stomach and settled.

Abigail continued, “That’s…” She said strained, wringing her hands. She sighed, and squatted down to look him in the eye, “What you can do, who you are is wonderful.”  
It sounded like a compliment, but the anxiety wouldn’t leave him. She continued, and her voice changed from anger to something he was very familiar with. The voice she used when she was trying to get him to understand something. “But it’s not something regular folk can understand, it’s…” She bit her lip, struggling to find the words, “It’s unnatural.”

Unnatural? What he can do? He… his people think he’s unnatural? What was originally a ball of anxiety in his stomach spread throughout his entire body, he could hear his heart thudding in his chest as he stared at her, trying to understand. What’s wrong with him? Why won’t they accept him? Do they hate him? Alfred never thought he was one to care deeply about what others thought, but the very idea that the village could not only find him weird but unnatural shook him to his very bones.

Abigail must’ve noticed the inner turmoil in his mind because she placed a gentle hand on his head, ruffling it slightly. But she wasn’t trying to comfort him, her eyes were still cold. This lesson wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

“It’ll be fine Alfred,” She said, but she didn’t smile, “But you need to be careful. I know you love them, and they love you. But when people are afraid, they’ll do things they normally would never do.”

“But why?” He interrupted, desperately, “Why does that change things?” They’re his friends, all of them. The baker gave him an extra pastry today! Why would they treat him differently all of a sudden? He’s still the same boy. The same Alfred.

Wasn’t he?

She exhaled, and with the breath, all of her energy as her body shifted downwards, like it was barely able to keep standing. “I’m sorry Alfred. But that’s just the way of things.”  
That confused him, she didn’t do anything yet her apology was genuine and he felt the words go through him and settle deep, making his heart feel heavy. So he settled for a nod.

She looked at him, eyes searching. Then she gave him a tired smile. The kind of smile she used to give him when she first started living with him. The one that made him feel naive like he didn’t understand.

He hated it.

“I’m going to start dinner, you’re free to play until then.” She said in a lighter tone, the conversation over.

He watched her leave her room. Normally she would make him help, it was a rare treat to be allowed to play before then.  
But instead, Alfred just stood there. Thinking.

He didn’t want to play anymore.

To Be Continued. . .


End file.
